NTID Library News

Deaf Women of Rochester (DWR) 45th Anniversary Gala

Deaf Women of Rochester’s 45th Anniversary Gala will take place September 18–19. In preparation, we are developing a small exhibit featuring materials from the Deaf Women of Rochester Collection in the Deaf Studies Archives (DSA).

If you are interested in a presentation on this collection or would like students to participate through an independent study or alternative assignment, please contact Joan Naturale, NTID Librarian. We also plan to collaborate with the DOVES Deaf Women Student Club as part of this work.

Two Deaf-Related Grants Awarded to RIT Libraries

NEH Grant: Breaking (Sound) Barriers

RIT Libraries has received NEH funding for Breaking (Sound) Barriers: Enhancing Description and Access to Deaf Heritage Collections, a project designed to expand access to materials in the Deaf Studies, Culture, and History Archives (DSA).

This initiative will support the hiring of a Project Archivist to arrange, describe, and digitize key DSA collections, addressing a significant backlog of Deaf history and culture materials accumulated over the past five years. The project will also strengthen description of previously processed collections, including reparative description when appropriate, and launch a pilot digitization project featuring selected DSA materials.
(Project Director: Ella Von Holtum | Co-Project Director: Joan Naturale)

CLIR Grant: Vital Signs: Uncovering Deaf Theater, Student Life, and Culture from NTID

RIT Libraries has also been awarded a CLIR Digitizing Hidden Collections grant:
Amplifying Unheard Voices: Vital Signs: Uncovering Deaf Theater, Student Life, and Culture from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

The Deaf Studies, Culture, and History Archives (DSA)—stewarded by the RIT Archives—has grown into one of the largest repositories documenting Deaf cultures and communities in the United States. This grant will preserve and provide access to more than 1,100 rare and unique audiovisual recordings documenting NTID student life, theatre and arts programs, ASL and interpreting, and Deaf culture and history.
(Co-PIs: Ella Von Holtum & Joan Naturale)

NTID Theatre History InfoGuide

Joseph Fox (Marketing Communications Specialist & Robert F. Panara Theatre House Manager) continues to collaborate and make significant contributions to the NTID Theatre History InfoGuide (1969–2026). The guide includes a growing collection of photos, documents, videos, related resources, and links connected to the Deaf Studies Archives’ NTID Theatre collections.